A current case before the Office of Undergraduate Judicial Affairs calls into question whether witnesses to campus crimes can remain anonymous -- even when they request anonymity -- according to a document obtained by The Dartmouth. Although April Thompson, the director of UJA, said her office's policy is to provide a list of all witnesses to the accused student, other College officials called revealing the names without consent a "communication glitch."
A Safety and Security report dated Dec. 5 cites a freshman -- who wished to remain anonymous because of the nature of the incident -- for causing damage to various buildings within the Choates residence cluster. The College provided this report to the accused student, a report that included un-redacted BlitzMail messages from seven student witnesses.
"If I was more of a vengeful person, I could have done something against them, but clearly I am not going to," the vandal said. "Still, I think I should be able to know who my accusers are."
The freshman said, however, that he isn't resentful toward those students who witnessed his offense.
"I understand why they would send in complaints against me -- I am not upset -- and I don't see them much differently," he said. "I have accepted responsibility for my actions."
Several of the witnesses listed in the report, however, took exception to their inclusion, considering that the BlitzMail messages were not sent to Safety and Security or UJA, but rather to Choates community director Kristin Deal. They said their main motivation in reporting the perpetrator was a desire to avoid paying fines.
"I feel betrayed," said a resident of the Choates, who wished to remain anonymous to avoid backlash from his peers. "I find it weird because [Deal] never told me about [my involvement] and never asked for my consent."
Even the names of students who expressly requested to remain anonymous were included in the report sent to the offender. One student stated in her BlitzMail message to Deal, "I would appreciate it if you kept my name out of it though."
"I'm disappointed -- I won't be blitzing her again," said the same Choates resident. "No consent was ever given."
Deal attributed the release of witness names without consent to a "miscommunication," citing a gap between her employer, the Office of Residential Life, and UJA.
"There at some point had been a miscommunication as to whether or not those students had been notified about their names being involved in the process," Deal said. "We are working on it as an administration to figure out what kind of gap in communication we had."
Deal explained that under a newly proposed policy, she would be required, along with other community directors, to inform students of their right to confidentiality and let them choose whether they want their statements and names to become part of the recorded judicial process.
"We will be talking with students about consent in any case where there is an investigation and I have to turn over information," she said.
This ability to provide confidentiality, however, does not extend to student communications with Safety and Security or UJA. Safety and Security uses caller ID and records all telephone calls to its offices, with all names included in investigation reports.
Safety and Security officers also have no discretion to keep a student's name out of a report, even if asked by the student to do so, said Harry Kinne, College Proctor and director of Safety and Security.
"We do an investigation and anything that is related to that gets attached to [the report] and is sent forward through the process, generally to Judicial Affairs," Kinne said. "If [students] call or make contact with us, it becomes part of our record so to speak."
Under current policy, UJA includes a list of all witnesses in its reports, regardless of whether or not the individuals have consented to or been informed of this fact. These reports are provided in full to the accused student.
"We try to contact students if their name is being used, but it is not always possible," Thompson said, adding that there is no requirement that witnesses consent prior to the inclusion of their names.
If UJA is able to make contact with witnesses and those witnesses choose not to be involved, this fact will be noted in the report, Thompson explained. Both Kinne and Thompson clarified, however, that this confidentiality policy does not apply to cases of sexual assault.
Despite this incident, Kinne hoped students would not be deterred from reporting incidents of misconduct.
"Actions by one individual affect the greater community, and I would certainly hope that the greater community would want to take some action so that it doesn't suffer because of the acts of one individual," he said.
